The Walking Dead Season 5: Will it Feature Character-Driven Episodes Like Season 4?

The two halves of The Walking Dead Season 4 each had a very distinct structure. The first eight episodes were much like installments of the past, focusing on several storylines within our group of survivors, but the back eight were decidedly different in how they were built and who they followed.

Team Prison was separated into many smaller groups following the midseason finale and the structure was clearly meant to reflect that, with several episodes centered around one or two factions allowing viewers to spend more time with individual characters. For example, we were able to learn about Michonne’s (Danai Gurira) son Andre and her “lover” Mike, just as we’d found out that Daryl Dixon’s (Norman Reedus) mysterious pre-apocalyptic life didn’t consist of much of anything and certainly nothing to be proud of.

The character-focused episodes of Season 4 were met with mixed reviews. Some fans loved learning more about the characters and seeing them in different lights, while others found the slower pace of the episodes boring and atypical for the action-packed show. So what does that mean for Season 5? Seeing as how 85 percent of Team Prison was reunited in a Terminus train car in the Season 4 finale, we’d hazard a guess that we won’t get many laser-focused eps next season, but let’s hear what comic book creator and executive producer Robert Kirkman has to say.

“I don't think this show is going to settle into one formula. We'll continue to tell different stories here and there,” he tells The Hollywood Reporter. “There may be some individual episodes that focus on a smaller group or one character, but I don't think it'll become the norm. We'll continue doing what we always do: to try and break new ground with every season.”

And there you have it, folks!

Are you bummed that we’ll likely move away from the character-driven episodes of TWD Season 4, or are you ready for a structural change in Season 5? Tell us where you stand in the comments below!